Chapter Sixteen
The battle of the fire flanks was mostly won by nightfall. Vanessa’s MD and Mickey’s 212 weren’t night-drop certified, but the other four helicopters were and kept right on going.
Gordon had them run another two hours, but he knew they were tiring. So he’d stationed Vanessa, Mickey, and Mark on the three Firehawks and climbed aboard the Diana Prince himself, taking the observer’s seat. He figured that the fresh blood and on-board conversations would get him another couple of hours of useful flight time before everyone was too ragged to be safe. It was hard to believe that twenty-four hours ago they’d still been on the aircraft carrier for a long, sleepless night while being harassed by the Chinese Chengdus.
Being back in the firefight felt good, familiar. He could forget
